Lasting machine



Dec. `17, 1940. A. BATES LAsTING MACHINE Filed June 27, 1959 2 sheets-sheet 1 KW l I! l 'l wwf/V70? Mv 25d/EL fa A).

Dc. 17, 1940. A. BATES LASTING MACHINE Filed June 27, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WM5/v70@ w fsm /5 L SQS xmlnm Patented Dec. 17, 1940 VUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LASTING MACHINE Sey Application June 27, 1939, serial No. 281,401 In Great Britain March 7, 1936 7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in lasting machines and particularly to lasting machines of the type having a single gripper and upper-fastening mechanism, the gripper being 5, operated to work into `lasted position successive portions `of a shoe upper progressively, each lasted portion being secured in lasted position by the fastening mechanism.

A machine of the type referred .to is disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 584,744, granted June 15, 1897, upon application of Ladd and McFeely. 'I'his prior machine is provided with a gripper which, after seizing the upper, is given an updraw movement to tension the upper and then an overdraw movement to lay the upper over the last bottom. The machine has means under lthe control of the operato-r for causing the gripper tro move laterally across the fro-nt of `the machine and to twist as itdoes so in `order to cause the gripped portion of the upper to be twisted or plaited so that the portion of flipper tensioned by the gripper may be drawn against the curved edge of the last as at the toe without producing an undesirable wrinkle in the upper close to the edge of the shoe bottom where it would be visiblein the nished shoe. This gripper-'operating mechanism, including the plaiting mechanism, has been found quite effective in lasting shoes, the plaiting mechanism being especially useful when operating around the toe portions of shoes where it serves to form a series of plaits to dispose of the fullness of the upper around the toe portion.

In the prior machines some of the gripper movements are sudden and harsh and not only subject the machine parts to considerable wear but make the operation of the machine fatiguing to the operator. l

Objects of this invention are to improve the operation of the gripper operating mechanism, to reduce Wear thereon, and to render the machine easier to operate. In the illustrated machine the gripper closing and updraw movements are substantially as usual. The overdraw movement, however, is made to begin during the updraw movement and to extend over a longer portion of the machine cycle than heretofore and is preferably performed in two steps, one about the middle of the updraw movement and the other at the conclusion of Ithe updraw movement, the steps being separated by a dwell. The lateral and twisting movements of the gripper extend over a much greater portion of the cycle than in prior constructions, the movement beginning substantially with the overdraw movement and 'extending to about the time Athe wiper ofthe fastening mechanism assumes control of the lasted portion of the Aupper by moving over the edge of the shoe bottom. By th-us delaying the lateral and twisting movements of the gripper so that by `far the greater portion thereof takes place after both the upd-raw and overdraw movements are finished, there is greater assurance -that no wrinkles' will be formed in the portions of the upper where they would show in the nished shoe.

Furthermore, when a machine embodying the present invention is employed for l-asting the toes of McKay shoes, that is, shoes in which the upper is secured in lasted position to the insole around the t-oe portion by tacks driven through the upper and insole and clinched upon the iron bottom of the last to remain permanently in the shoe, the fact that part of the overdraw movement of the gripper is caused to take place before .the conclusion of the updraw movement gives greater assurance that tension applied by the gripper to one portion of th-e upper will not tend to loosen or .pull out a tack which has been driven to secure an adjacent portion of the upper in lasted position.

In the illustrated machine the mechanism for imparting plaiting movements to the gripper comprises a link connected to an arm -on the rockshaft of the usual plaiter mechanism, the link having a square opening embracing the cam shaft of the machine on which is a triangular cam engaging a square opening, the lengthwise movements thus imparted to the link being utilized to rock the shaft of the plaiting mechanism.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a skeleton View in Iperspective showing the operating instrumentalities of the machine and the mechanism for operating them;

Fig. 2 is a cam chart illustrating the timing of various operating instrumentalites; and

Fig. 3 is a somewhat di-agrammatic perspective view of the toe of a shoe lasted by the machine.

The illustrated machine is provided with the usual operating instrumentalities comprising a gripper I0, a tack block and wiper I2 and a tack driver I4. Closing movement is imparted to the gripper I0 by an edge cam I6 and updr-aw movement by a path cam I8. The tack block I2 is connected to a slide 20 to which the usual reciprocating movements are imparted by a lever 22 operated by a cam 2li, the cams I6, I 8 and 24 being all mounted on the main cam shaft 26 ofthe machine.

The voverdraw movement of the gripper I0 is produced as usual by an arm 23 actuated by a spring 30 and operating on an overdraw rod 32, the action of the spring being controlled by an yoverdraw cam 33 formed on the rear face of the cam I@ and acting upon a roll 36 carried by the overdraw rod 32, the cam 34 being formed to permit operation of the overdraw rod as indicated by the line 34 on the cam shaft (Fig. 2).

Lateral and twisting movements are imparted to the gripper l by the usual rocker 38 secured to the hollow rockshaft 5.10. The extent anddireotion of the lateral and twisting movements of the gripper are controlled as usual vbya knee lever 42.

Movement is imparted to the rockshaft 40 by novel mechanism comprising an arm 44 secured to the rockshaft 40 and a Ilink 4E oneend'of which is pivoted at 48 to the arm 44 and the other end of which has substantially a square opening 56 through which the main shaft 28 vezitends. Secured eccentrically of the shaft 2-5 to the front face of the cam I6 and tting within the square opening B is a nearly triangular cam 52. The sides Yof the triangular cam 52 are not straight but each is substantially a circular curve struck from the opposite corner of the cam ras a center, the corners being somewhat rounded. That is, the tri-angular cam 52 is designed `to turn in the square'hole without lost motion and, since the shaft 26 is located near one of the corners of the triangular cam, rotation of the cam by the shaft 25 impartsl a four-Way motion to the end of the link 136 and the lengthwise movements thus imparted to the link t6 are utilized to rock the shaft 40 and produce the desired lateral and twisting movementsiof the gripper l0.

In the illustrated machine the movement imparted to the upper jaw of the gripper l0 by ,the cam i6, the updraw movement imparted to .resented by a dot-and-dash line designated as 34 on the cam chart and next to :it -is a full line `designated as 34 which represents the action of the overdraw cam y3111 in the illustrated machine. Comparison of this line with that of the updraw cam IS will make it clear that the overdraw occurs in two steps, the rst stepoccurring after about 100 of rotation of the `cam shaft and during the updraw movement and another vstep of the overdraw movement occurringafter the updraw movement is completed. The fact that a portion of the overdraw movement takes place during the updraw movement causes that portion of the margin of the upper extending between the `gripper and the last tack Idriven to approach the shoe bottom to asubstantial extent as the gripper operates on the upper and `tlcierefore the gripper does not tend to`disturb the last driven tack, whereas, if the updraw movement of the gripper were completed before the overdraw begins, the upper extending between the gripper and-the tack would be pulled upwardly -in such a manner as would be likely to loosen the Alast-driven tack.

The lateral and twisting movements `imparted to thegripper in machines of the usual construction is represented on the cam chart bythe dotand-dash line 52 and the lateral and twisting movements imparted to the gripper by the novel mechanism of the illustrated machine comprising the triangular cam 52 are represented by the full line 52 on the cam chart. It Will be observed that the lateral and twisting movements of the gripper in the illustrated machine begin at substantially the same point as heretofore or slightly later and continue for about 120 of rotation of the cam shaft, whereas in the prior machine these movements occupied only about 85 of rotation of the cam shaft. This prolongation of the lateral and twisting movements of the gripper causes them substantially to overlap the movements imparted to the wiper which, as shown by line 24 on the cam chart, begin after about 190 of rotation of the shaft from its vstopped or zero position and continue for about 50 of rotation of the shaft or until the shaft reaches 240 of rotation from its zero position. In other words, the lateral and twisting movements overlap the movements of the wiper for about which enables the wiper to assume control of the upper at about the time the lateral and twisting movements cease. As a result the Wiper moves over the plait as soon as it is formed and the tack is driven through the plait instead of at one side of it, as was apt to occur in the use of the machine as previously organized. Fig.

-3 is a view illustrating somewhat diagrammatically the toe of a shoe lasted on a machine embodying the present invention. The gure shows clearly the character and direction of the plaits and the driving of the tacks through the plaits.

The prolongation of the plaiting movements also results in a smoother and easier action of:y

the machine and it was found that an operator can use the machine throughout a days run with far less fatigue than when operating a machine of the prior construction. Also, the illustrated ,mechanism for efecting the lateral and twisting movements of the gripper is less subject to wear and breakage than the mechanism previously employed for this purpose.

It should be pointed out that, since the gripper is operated yieldingly, its movements as represented on the cam chart correspond to thefmovements it would have when the machine is operated idly with no-shoe presented to it, and the precise times in the machine cycle at which the gripper finishes .its various movements and the extent to which it moves will vary somewhat according tothe nature of the materials of the uppers of diierent shoes and according to the amount of lasting allowance provided.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a lasting machine of the type in which successive portions of an upper are progressively Worked into lasted Yposition over the bottom of Ya last, a gripper, ,means for imparting updraw successive portions of an upper are progressively worked into lasted position over the bottom of a last, a gripper, means for imparting updraW and overdraw movements to the gripper, a Wiper movable over the shoe bottom to Work the upper into lasted position, and means for imparting plaiting movements to the gripper which begin at about the time of the overdraw movements and continue at least until the movement of the wiper begins.

4. In a lasting machine of the type in Which successive portions of an upper are progressively Worked into lasted position over the bottom of a last, a gripper, means for imparting updravv and overdraw movements to the gripper, a wiper movable over the shoe bottom to Work the upper into lasted position, and means for imparting plaiting movements to the gripper which begin at about the time of the overdraw movements and continue during movement of the Wiper.

5. In a lasting machine of the type in which successive portions of an upper are progressively Worked into lasted position over the bottom of a last, a gripper, means for imparting updraw and overdraW movements to the gripper, a Wiper movable over the shoe bottom to Work the upper into lasted position, and means for imparting plaiting movements to the gripper which begin at about the time of the overdraw movements and continue until the Wiper assumes control of the upper.

6. In a lasting machine of the progressive type, a gripper, and means for imparting lateral and twisting movements to the gripper comprising a rocker, an arm on the rocker, a link pivoted at one end .to the arm, the other end of the link having a square opening embracing the cam shaft, and a triangular cam iixed to the cam shaft and engaging said opening, said triangular cam acting upon rotation of the shaft to impart to-and-fro movements to the link to rock the rocker.

'7. In a lasting machine of the progressive type, a gripper, and means for imparting lateral and twisting movements to the gripper comprising a rocker, an arm on the rocker, a link pivoted atv one end to the arm, the other end of the link having a square opening embracing the cam shaft, and a triangular cam iixed eccentrically to the cam shaft and tting in said opening, said 'triangular cam acting upon rotation of the shaft to impart to-and-fro movements to the link to rock the rocker. I

ARTHUR BA'I'ES. 

